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Thursday, September 26, 2013

ZnetShows Design Team members were asked to pick out items with the challenge theme "Rings and Bling" and design jewelry. Once our jewelry was created and photographed, Hope Smitherman, put together a fabulous Glossi magazine.

I'm one of the featured designers (pages 29-32) and my earrings are on the cover! Thanks, Hope!!

I love fall, so I started with the beautiful Chinese crystal teardrops-Autumn leaves (ZMX-04-06) and found a green Aqua Terra Jasper stone in the shape of a leaf, for the pendant. Then, I used copper leaf chain, green sari silk, a flower toggle and a leaf charm to finish it.

I used the ringy antique brass chain (M0478-AB) and went blingy with the pinks from the Chinese crystal teardrops-Autumn leaves. I had the pink Chinese crystal pendant in my stash - it matched perfectly!

I had to have the beautiful Chinese crystal teardrops-transparent gold (RS257-124) and made earrings with faceted Chinese crystal glass coins-peridot and Chinese crystal rondelles-Metallic gold (RT138-103).

For this pair of earrings, I used my "signature crown" as a base for the beautiful Chinese crystal rondelles and teardrops.

Check out Creative Spark to see all of the beautiful "Rings and Bling" designs from the Premier Issue - there are so many beautiful jewelry designs and designers!!

I just bought these pink faceted glass teardrops and they matched the blossom pink conch shell perfectly! I added a crystal between each teardrop for a bit more sparkle.

I had tangerine bottle-neck style rings (S55-B83SFIVE) in my stash and attached a royal blue conch shell, a peridot green tusk bead and a silver starfish to chain - I love these bright, summery colors together!

I just received this beautiful Japanese Chirimen Kimono cord from StinkyDogBeads (love that name)
and had to use it! I attached a royal blue conch shell to a small piece of the cord, then made tiny dangles with fuschia and blue crystals, and attached them to the copper chain.

Ombre is hot right now, so I made a necklace using some of the blues. I had some glass rondelle beads from Auntie's Beads and attached the conch shells to them.

Thank you Bill for the sweet conch shells!! Go to ZnetShows to see all of their beautiful beach glass beads, gemstones, and crystals. They also have a facebook page and blog that will keep you up to date on their latest "happenings".

Wednesday, May 8, 2013

Bill Zhang of ZnetShows - wholesale beads - offered a new challenge to those of us who created designs with their beautiful sea glass. The challenge was to design jewelry using beads that are a little less flashy and often overlooked. I was up for the challenge since I haven't seen a bead at ZnetShows that I don't want to work with!!

The Znet Team will choose 20 designs and have a Facebook voting contest. The winners will receive gift certificates from ZnetShows to shop to their hearts' content! WooHoo - 3 of my pieces were chosen for the Facebook contest!! My colorful butterfly bracelet, my chains and shell flower necklace, and my blue Murano-style necklace! Thank you to Bill and his team!!

We were told to choose beads that we could easily work with to beads that would be challenging to work with, so I picked quite a mix of colors and styles! Click on the pictures below for a better view of the beads.

I started with the beautiful yellow and green Fire Agates (yellow-BDS1593-12 and green-BDS1591-06) and added pink Druzy beads to make fun, colorful earrings.

I love these colors together, so fun and happy, so I continued with them. I pulled a fuschia Turquoise butterfly out of my stash and made a bracelet around it. I started by adding different bead caps to the pink Druzy and yellow Fire Agate beads (BDS1593-12). Then, I used the smaller green Fire Agates (BDS1591-06) to make flowers by adding a bead caps and purple Swarovski crystals. I bought yellow bell flowers at Gahanna Bead Studio and added a purple Swarovski crystals to those, too. A silver flower toggle finishes the bracelet.

I made a chain necklace with black, gunmetal and copper chains, and attached the lovely shell flower pendants (PDG288-03) to the ends. I added a silver wavy disc and Swarovski crystal to each flower and wrapped them to the chain. Next, I strung white freshwater pearls to each side of the chain.
The necklace can be worn symmetrically

or asymmetrically, to see more of the freshwater pearls.

I wasn't sure what to do with the pretty Prehnite nuggets (BDS1565-18) until I found some light green crystals that I had received from another challenge - I knew they would work perfectly! I made a simple necklace with a tassel of crystals - this is a fun, swingy necklace that I wear often.

Next up, the sweet olive Jade donut pendant (BDG118-17D). I made a bail for the donut using 3mm gold crystals - I also made two additional circles. I strung green and pink freshwater pearls, the African silver leaf rondelles (BDS1517-17) and gold crystals, attached that to the crystal circles and used beige recycled sari silk to finish it. One of the crystal circles is used as part of the toggle.

For the next two necklaces, I used the lovely Murano style glass pendants. The blue pendant (PT467-02)has gold, red, blue and turquoise in it, so I wire wrapped goldstone rondelle beads (BDS367-08), faceted red glass beads, and Lapis and Amazonite round beads. I connected them together with square wire jump rings (my new favorite jump rings!), attached the pendant to one of my handmade bails and .....Voila! I love how this turned out!

The pretty yellow Murano style glass pendant (PT472-04) has gold, a red heart and lime green. I attached the pendant to a silver hammered circle and added colorful, tiny gears near the top of it. I wrapped faceted goldstone rondelle beads (BDS367-08) to the chain, added another circle to one side and a heart toggle to the other. I wove lime green silk cord through the gunmetal chain to finish the necklace.

I found two more silver hammered circles in my stash and wire wrapped white Howlite rondelle beads (BDS366-09), black crystals and silver wavy discs to them.

I attached the shell rectangular prism beads (BDS416-09) to gold chain to make fun, swingy earrings.

I was stuck on what to do with the, extra large bamboo coral tube beads (CB25-25) until two days ago. I added coral colored seed beads to jump rings, then attached several together to make a short chain. I connected it all together with two different types of silver chain and a circle toggle.

I love the bamboo coral!!

The cool irregular shell pendant (PDG283-13)was one of the first items I picked from the list Bill sent - I thought it would be easy to work with, but it tilts to one side and ended up being quite a challenge! I, finally, attached it to black chain, for contrast, and wire wrapped some vintage glass pearls to the chain. It's a short necklace, seventeen inches, and I love how it looks on!!

Thank you for taking the time to look at my jewelry designs!! I really enjoyed this challenge and want to Thank Bill Zhang and the Znet Team for this amazing opportunity!! Stop by ZnetShows to check out all of their fabulous beads!

Time to start voting!! Go to this Facebook page to see the 20 beautiful designs that were chosen!! Voting will continue through May 23 - Good Luck to everyone!!

Please visit the ZnetShows blog and check out all of the designers and their fabulous designs!!